QC says police officers confused by ban on consensual stop and search of children

A lawyer who chaired a government-appointed group tasked with drawing up reforms for stop and search has said it could take years for officers to become familiar with the new rules.

John Scott QC, chair of the Advisory Group on Stop and Search said the ban on “consensual” searches of children which came in after a highly critical inspectorate report in March has led to confusion amongst officers.

Mr Scott told the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Sub-Committee on Policing that some officers believed they were prohibited from searching children entirely – even where they believed the child was carrying something that would justify a statutory search.

The advisory group’s own changes to searching rules are likely to be implemented in the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Bill.

They recommended that non-statutory stop and search be brought to an end but that police should retain the power to search people on a statutory basis.

Mr Scott said he will engage with the rank-and-file and file of Police Scotland as well as the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) and the Scottish Police Federation (SPF).

He said: “One of the ways of is seeing alternative ways of doing things in practice, so that they are confronted with real-life situations and they see colleagues who are more confident in the range of powers that they have without having to look at non-statutory.

“I’ve heard suggestions of anything from a year to four years as to how long it might take for that sort of transition to go all the way through.”